Audience research for this product, is potentially one of the most important factors in my eyes, as it allows me to figure out what my audience already know and how much I can include within the product. audience research can consist of various things, such as forms and surveys. However, to achieve this, it is important to know what questions to ask in order to extract the best answers possible, and to do this, I figured I have to work my way into the potentially deeper answers. For example, the first questions on my form were simply to assess how niche my idea is, and to see how many of my potential viewers have experience with watching documentaries like this. From asking this question, I got the answer that around 70% of the people who answered have seen a mental health documentary recently, which is both a positive and a negative. A positive of this, is that viewers will have already seen a documentary similar, which allows them to know what to expect in a sense as most prior products have followed a similar trend. However, this also becomes a negative as with a large majority already having seen documentaries like this, it becomes harder to task to stick out and impress, as with there already being many great mental health documentaries out there, having one that both inspires and leaves a mark on the person’s memory, becomes a harder task.
Another positive to this form I submitted, is I found out the style of mental health documentaries, that potential viewers are watching. For example, one of the documentaries was ‘I am Tim’ which is a Netflix documentary, used to show all the key points and moments within the late Avicii’s life, showing all of his mental health battles and struggles. This documentary follows the more observatory style, therefore would be entirely different to the style of documentary I am planning to carry out. Besides the likes of Stacey Dooley’s ‘Life on psych ward’ all of the documentaries were drastically different to the style I have planned. This could pose a positive to me as it allows a window for me to create a product that people haven’t necessarily seen much before which is a positive for me as they may be more inclined to watch all the way through with it being new to them. Another thing I asked was about what the products they watched taught them about mental health. From this question I received one main answer and that was that it is important for people to talk, as it can help your mental state immensely. This is ideally what I am aiming to receive, as these answers back up my thought process exactly, in that most people hear the bare minimum from documentaries instead of more information about how they can help themselves as well as others and prevent their condition from progressing too far. From this question alone, my overall point and purpose has been proven affective from those few answers so fills me with confidence that I can make my product a success.
The final questions I asked in my form were the ones that really mattered, as not only did it allow me to see the percentage of people who actually feel comfortable speaking out to those close around them, but it also helped me to separate those stats into men and women who answered. This is important as with my documentary surrounding the topic of men’s mental health, in particular the mental health of young men, it helps me to know how comfortable they are to speak to people, if at all. Not only this but also the reasons why they feel that they can or can’t speak out about their emotions. The first question from this section asks about how confident they would be speaking to those close to them about their own mental health. 14.2% of these responses said they definitely feel they would not be able to speak to their peers about how they feel, all 14.2% were male. On the contrary, 85.7% of the results showed that people feel they are able to speak out about their emotions, with only 33% of those being male. While it be alarming that these results and figures are appearing, it provides me with a solid base to work off of, as already I have proof that boys are the ones who struggle to open up more in comparison to girls. The next segment of this question asks the reasons why they can or can’t speak out about their emotions, and the results gained from this were surprising yet expected at the same time. Whilst most answers were the likes of ‘I feel I can say thing without judgement’ or ‘enough trust is built to where it becomes easier’, there was a common theme where the boys who said they weren’t able to speak out to their friends, all didn’t answer the question, which could suggest that fear of vulnerability felt by many people when it comes to their mental health. For me, this is definitely something I need to explore further when creating my product, as it could be a main barrier to break in order to actually reach people through my product. another comment which backs this statement up, is that ‘people can be judgmental’ showing that fear of vulnerability once again which is definitely something I need to try crack down and expose during my documentary. Overall, I feel that this form alone has provided me with a plethora of information, not only for things such as the types of documentaries people have watched, but also for the confidence they feel in themselves to speak out and ask for help when needed. That gives me a solid understanding of the boundaries I can break and push past when creating my product to have a big of an impact as possible.